Into the Night
by Emmy the Writer
Summary: AU s4. Tangled in a web of lies and half-truths, mysterious Kennedy causes the Scooby gang no end of trouble when she arrives in Sunnydale. Who's side is she on? Daylight has never been so dangerous, and everyone had their own demons to beat... or embrace
1. Gnawing

A/N: First story for Buffy. This idea has probably been done before, but if so I hope I bring something new for you all to enjoy. This story is set at the start-ish of season four, after Oz has left, but before Willow and Tara meet. Some notable changes, like Xander stayed in college, Riley doesn't exist yet and Buffy is STILL getting over Angel. Nobody had moved into College dorms/rooms yet. It will progressively become more AU.

Chapter I: Gnawing

The sun was low in the sky, painting Sunnydale in hues of vermillion and gold. It had been a long day in the eyes of many teens, but Buffy Summers knew that she would be awake for many hours to come. She sat in her living room with the TV making a low buzzing sound in her ear, because she wasn't focused on it. If she had been, she would have seen that the newsreader was reporting the usual: freakish murders, people going mysteriously missing, average Sunnydale news.

Gazing out the window at the street outside, Buffy attempted to unravel her thoughts. Lately her mind had been jammed up with school, slaying, boys—well, Angel—and she wasn't really coping very well.

"Buffy?" came a voice from the front door, which she instantly recognized as her best friend, Willow. "Did you doze of with the TV on again? You know it's not good for you…"

Willow came around the corner and saw the slayer splayed out on the couch, brow furrowed. "You okay? You look a little fluie…"

"Nah, I'm just tired, Will. What brings you over here?"

Willow raised her eyebrows. "Do I need a reason to visit my best friend's house?"

Buffy slid her fingers through her hair, signing. "No, no, of course you don't. I'm just a little distracted."

"Angel?"

"Amongst other things, yeh. It's just… like there's this hole, you know? And it makes me feel all weird…"

Willow sat down beside her slayer friend. "Look, Buffy, I had the same with Oz, but you've got to move on… go out there and get around!"

"Like you've been doing," Buffy replied sarcastically. The redhead gave her a look, but didn't reply, sinking into the sofa.

"You should patrol soon. Increase in vamp activity lately and all…"

"Don't remind me. I fell asleep in two classes today, I totally though Snyder was gonna go nuclear," she replied, all lightness in the comment snubbed by the thought of walking around one of Sunnydale's many graveyards for hours, something not even the slayer finds fun.

"Well, I just came to see if you were okay. You've been acting really distant lately, so I was getting kinda worried." Willow's face brightened. "Hey, why don't we go to the Bronze once you've done a bit of patrolling? You could use a little relaxation."

"You know the Bronze is always heaving with vamps, Will!"

"And?" Willow pressed her point. "You can slay to the beat!" she gave an awkward kind of jiggle with some hand movements. "Well, it would be more stakey and probably groovier than that, but you get my point."

Buffy stayed silent.

"Well, if you reconsider, me and Xander will be there waiting for ya," the redhead announced as she reluctantly pulled herself off the sofa and bid her friend goodbye.

XOXOXOXOXOX

"You all set, Kenn?" The girl asked her companion as they stood outside the warehouse that contained the Bronze. "You're gonna shine tonight, Kenny, I just know. You'll find someone right."

"Shut up, Chris. I don't need any more shit from you about how special and awesome I am, kay? I let you stay with me even though you can't do half the stuff I can 'cause you're useful in some ways. Don't overstep that." The shorter girl growled at Chris, stubbing her cigarette out on a skip.

"Okay. Sorry Kenn."

"It's no prob, just don't get all up at me all the time."

Chris nodded. She looked at the long line of youths that snaked into the club. "There really must not be much to do in this town, huh?"

Kennedy raised an eyebrow. "not much? There's a fuckin' hellmouth, dumbass. It's like being permenantly on speed to me." Chris looked at the floor. "Aw, c'mon, you didn't know, C. It's not your fault I'm all fucked up like this."

"Yeh, I know. It just somehow feels like you surpass me in like a billion ways when I'm supposed to be better."

Kennedy held the girl's chin. "you are better, C. You're awesome at all this planning and tactics shit. If it were me rushing in blindly, I'd be way dead by now."

Chris laughed softly. "Thanks for that. Can we get into this place now? I'm freezing my ass off."

"I hope not. Your ass is too nice to go anywhere except on you." Chris blushed.

"You're such a gentleman, Kenn. There must be lines of girls just queuing for you to perv on them,"

"Damn straight."

"Damn not."

Kennedy laughed. "Oh yeh, I get it. Nice one." She surveyed Chris. Jeans slightly too big and ripped at the knees, shirt tightly pulled over a strappy top, bandana making her messy, shoulder-length blonde hair stick out.

"You look like a guy with boobs." She blurted out, not bothering to hide the fact that she was looking Chris up. "What's up with that look? You'll never get guys if you look like one. Well, you might, I guess. Gay ones."

"I figure if I'm hanging out with you, then any guy I bring back will be swiftly kicked into the bin. No point, really. And besides, this is your night-"

The brunette growled again, her piercing dark eyes giving Chris the evils. The blonde moved swiftly off the subject. "And you look like a skank."

Kennedy gave a look of disbelief. Mini-skirt. Biker boots, tight t-shirt and denim jacket- so not skank. "Do not. I'm just going for a sexier look. Girls don't usually go for cargoes and a baggy t-shirt from the eighties, C."

"Well, I dunno…" she smirked. "Let's just get in that club."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Willow sipped her drink glumly, sitting to the side of the dancefloor with Xander.

"If we're not careful, Buffy will stake us, 'cause we look like a couple of zombies,"

"Will, you're the one who's sitting having a staring match with the bottom of your cup. We are allowed to do stuff when Buffy's not around," Xander explained, looking around wistfully at the multitude of girls dancing.

The redhead didn't reply and kept her eyes trained on the door. She watched as people she vaguely knew from school filtered in and out, all looking merry. Willow, however, was not feeling merry. If Buffy was confused, Willow was wallowing in waist-deep inner turmoil. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something big was coming, something dangerous; it weighed on her mind constantly. It must be connected to the writhing feeling in her stomach, a strange gnawing that she couldn't shake. She wasn't sure exactly when it started, but it was strongest when she cast her mind back to her encounter with her vamparic self. Though nobody thought much of it after the time, Willow often dreamt of Vamp Willow, who talked with her beguiled her in her sleep. When she woke, she'd always feel uneasy and on-edge.

Willow was pulled out of her thoughts when a sudden gust of cold wind swirled around her feet, bringing her attention to the door. Two girls walked in, the taller dressed androgynously and looking laid back. Willow's attention, however, was immediately drawn to the girl next to her, coffee-coloured hair cascading over her shoulders and down her back, dark eyes subtly surveying the room in front of her. Her eyes met with Willow's for a brief second, and a smile curled over her tanned face. She whispered something to the boyish girl and set off, making a beeline for Willow and Xander's table.

"Whoa, hot girl at twelve o'clock and making a beeline for us, Will." Xander ogled at her.

Will shuddered a bit "I dunno Xander, she's looking at me all creepy,"

"Leave it to the Xand-master, she'll be all over me in a matter of moments." He replied with humorous confidence, slicking his hair back in an attempt to look suave.

Willow's lips quirked into a half-smile at her friend's antics. A while ago, she would have found it cute, but now Xander was too much of a friend- almost a permanent fixture- to illicit such feelings.

The girl sidled up to their table and placed her elbows on the top, leaning towards Willow. "Evening," she said, her voice husky. "Couldn't help but notice that you aren't looking so happy. Cute girl like you should be out there dancin',"

Willow blushed at the girl so obviously coming on to her. "uhhh…" she stared blankly into those deep, murky eyes that seemed to draw her in. "I'm… uh… I'm okay, thanks,"

The girl raised her eyebrows mockingly. "Sure?" Willow nodded profusely and tried to look anywhere but at the girl. "Well, if you change your mind, I'll be around. Name's Kennedy." With that, she stalked off towards the bar.

Xander sat in shocked silence, drink in hand. After he picked his jaw up from the floor, he gulped nervously and managed three syllables. "That was hot."

Willow lit up like a christmas light again. "Xander!"

"What? Will, you just got hit on by a _girl_. A totally _hot_ girl."

They both jumped a mile in the air when the third stool scraped back.

"Buffy!" Willow laughed/shouted, steadying her thumping heart. "Please, no sneaky-uppy-ness, I don-"

"Buff, Willow just got hit on by a girl!" Xander cut in, eyes shining with excitement.

"oooh, much has happened in the hours I have been keeping Sunny-D's undead population company. Tell!"

Willow put her head on the table. "Please noooo… I'm already embarrassed enough!"

"These two hot girls walked in, and were like, wow, and this Latina one just locks eyes with Will straight away and strides up here. She was like…"

XOXOXOXOXOX

"…cute girl like you should be out there dancin'," Kennedy re-iterated, swirling her ice cubes around with the blue straw.

"Kinda forward of you, Kenn," Chris replied, eyes scanning the room, finding where the redhead sat. "She is cute, though, I give you that…"

Kennedy chuckled. "All this time you're spending with me may be turning you kinda gay, C,"

"No way! I'm still totally into the whole penis thing. I just see it better from your point of view," the brunette smirked at her friend. "Kenny, I am still 100 percent straight."

"100 percent boring more like,"

Chris pushed her lightly before changing the subject. "So, you totally went… straight… haha…never mind, straight for her as soon as we got in. What was up?"

Kennedy sighed contentedly. "She's like a damn geyser of magic, C. Just being around her is like, breathtaking. She has no idea how much there is, it's totally wild!"

Chris frowned. "Surely that's kinda dangerous?"

"Only if she bottled it up inside her. She's just letting it leak out, so no harm done unless someone absorbs it and uses it." The blonde gave a soft 'oh' of understanding. "I dunno if being all witchy has the desired effect, though…"

"But, if it's _you_ doing it, surely the same thing would happen?"

Kennedy shook her head. "I don't think that's how it works. It's all about the mix, ya know?"

"no, I don't _know_. You don't _know_. We can only make an educated guess."

"C, getting all brainy on me here."

Chris laughed sofly. "Sorry, I sometimes forget you're so dumb."

"Shut it!"

The two of them turned as a blonde girl walked up. "Heeeey," Kennedy said, looking her once down. "What's up?"

"Hi. Just here to stake you." She replied, puling a pointy piece of wood from her jeans and making a stab and Kennedy's chest. The brunette caught it just in time.

"What the fuck are you doing, crazy bitch? You don't just go around staking people!"

"Of course not. I go around staking vampires."

Kennedy gave her a confused look. "vampires? Fangs and bats and stuff?"

Buffy hesitated for a moment. This girl really did look like she had no idea as to what was going on. "If you're human, why does my friend-" she gestured to Willow, who gave a cheery wave, then realised it was probably not very appropriate and abruptly stopped, "-tell me that you have a dark aura?"

Kennedy did a signature eyebrow raise. "what, kind of like yours?" Buffy looked incredulous. "You're a slayer. I'm a potential slayer. Same creepy aura."  
"potential slayer?"

"Yeh. You know, when the current slayer dies, one of the potentials gets bumped up to super-slayer status?"

A look of recognition crossed Buffy's features. "ooooh… Giles said something about that, but I wasn't listening…" She looked hard at Kennedy. "eh… I'm still not totally convinced, but for now, want to come over to our table and explain?"

Kennedy turned to Chris. "you okay to go find some icky guys for a bit? I'm gonna go with she-ra here,"

"Yeh, it's cool. I'll meet you out back when you're done?" Kennedy nodded. "Cool. Cya, Kenn."

The parted and Kennedy followed Buffy over to the table with the cute redhead on, grinning manically. The girl got redder as she approached, finally conceding to shuffle behind the tall, dark-haired boy's jacket.

Buffy spoke up. "Hey guys. This is, uh… Ken, is it?"

"Kennedy, but call me whatever."

"This is Kennedy. I gather-" she looked at Willow and Xander, "- you've already met?"

"All too briefly," Xander said. Kenendy thought she could see I bit of drool escaping his mouth. She put aside her dislike for boys and concentrated on the task at hand. "I'm Xander, this timid creature is Willow, and the overexcited girl with the stake is Buffy. Nice to meet you,"

"Likewise," Kennedy replied, staring at Willow.

"I can see why you mistook her for a vamp, Buff, that gaze is kinda predator-y." the only male present tried to break the ice.

"Yeh. But, the dark aura thing, Will, she says it's because she's a potential slayer," buffy explained, gesturing for Kennedy to take a seat.

Willow scratched her head. "Now you mention it, you do kinda have the same aura… I just assumed that yours was from hanging out with vamps all the time…"

Kennedy crossed her arms indignantly. "You couldn't have mentioned this _before_ she tried to stick a log in my chest?"

Willow whimpered and held Xander's jacket tighter. "S-sorry!" Kennedy softened and nearly sqealed.

"That-is-the-cutest-thing!" she said under her breath.

"Sorry, what was that? " Buffy asked, turning to the potential slayer.

Kennedy didn't miss a beat. "I wondered if you guys all, y'know, slay together and stuff?"

Xander replied. "Well, me and Will don't really do much staking, we're more like support. Buffy does our dirty work."

"Cool."

It was Buffy's turn to speak. "So, are you new in town? I haven't seen you at Hellmouth High before, or UC Sunny-D, but they're both big places, people are easy to miss..."

"Yeh, me and Chris have been moving around a bit, but I reckon we might stay here a while. It's nice and chock full of nasties to beat the crap out of."

"That's my job!"

Copyright Kennedy eyebrow maneuver. "Come _on_. I've been here, like, an hour, and I've already seen at least four graveyards. It's a lot for one girl,"

"Well… I guess it would be nice… but you're not a proper slayer. I don't want to have to watch another back." Buffy explained, glancing around the room for any sigh of things that go bump in the night.

"Oh trust me, that is not an issue. My Watcher trained me in multiple forms of melee combat, defense and martial arts."

"You have a Watcher?"

"Had. Vampires murdered her. Chris was her daughter, so we upped and left New York and kept moving, 'cause we didn't fancy the same fate. But now we're here and there's a proper slayer around, we can probs relax for a while."

"Probs? Who says probs?" Willow blurted out, immediately covering her hand with her mouth in horror. "I'm sorry Ma'am Kennedy Sir, I didn't mean it-"

"You don't have to be scared of me, Willow. I… don't bite,"

Willow inched out from behind Xander. "Oh… okay." Kennedy smiled warmly, and turned around to meet Chris, who was looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"C?"

Buffy turned to Willow and Xander. "I so just got major Faith vibes from that." They nodded in agreement.

"Hey, Kenny. I went out back, but some guy and his girl are sucking neck. Fuck-ugly guy, too."

Xander spoke up. "So, you do the whole 'Kennedy, patron saint of girls in distress' thing now?"

"Wait a minute, Xander." Buffy looked worried. "Exactly how… um, ugly, was this guy?"

Chris, leaned against the table nonchalantly. "The usual. A bit lumpy-bumpy, all bite and no bark kinda ugly. Thought that stake-girl should know, so she can find a more appropriate place for that thing than Kenn's chest."

"Take a break, you said. Relax at the Bronze, you said. Really, I should just patrol here- more vampires than all the graveyards combined…" Buffy ranted and she strode off, stake in hand.

Chris laughed a bit. "She's right there," she whispered to Kennedy, who caught the laugh and added her own, louder snigger. "Anyway, Kenny and I are gonna call it a night. We probs have to enroll in school if we stay here for a while, so we'll see you around, yeh?"

"yeh… I hope so…" Xander waved dreamily as they both walked off.

Kennedy turned to Chris, smirk illuminating her face. "You're totally besotted!" Chris exclaimed, opening the door. A sudden rush of cold air made her shiver.

"And you're totally human," kennedy laughed, taking off her jacket and handing it to the blonde. "And they're totally stupid."

"I know!" Chris cried, pulling the extra layer on. "Vampire Slayer? More like karate prom queen, p-lease."

"Thank you." Kennedy replied, surveying the town before them. "I was gonna suggest that we find a nice mausoleum to nap in, but you're kind hypothermic…"

"Motel?"

Kennedy gave her a look. "Do I look nice or rich enough for a motel? Nope, we're gonna go get our stuff from my car and find a nice, cozy little cubbyhole somewhere in that school and make camp."

"Sleep in school? Kenn, you _hate_ school, and you only went there for like 6 hours a day. Sure you could cope with living in one?"

"I could easily cope with living anywhere on a hellmouth, C," She replied.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Willow grasped the edge of her bedcovers so tightly that her knuckles went white. The full moon outside shone through her French windows, creating strange, deep shadows that seemed to ripple. Since Oz had gone, full moon was a time of relative peace for Willow, but today, she was petrified with fear. She felt something approaching, something sinister.

All too suddenly, a famililar dream played before her eyes. The moon misted over red and the shadows rose up to form the shapes of people. They leered at her through invisible eyes, inching towards her bed. "stop," she whimpered. "you're not real, I'm not afraid of you,"

"I'm insulted. You of all people know how real I am, Fuzzy," the same, smooth voice that reverberated around her head. "what are you afraid of, Willow?"

Willow pushed herself further up her bed. "y-you,"

"But Fuzzy, I'm you. Don't tell me you're afraid of yourself?" Vamparic Willow stepped from the shadows and sat at the foot of the bed, grin showing off her pearly white fangs.

Willow shook her head profusely, scrunching her eyes shut. "you're not me. You may look like me and s-speak like me, but you're not me. You're not real. It's just a dream. Just a dream…" Willow trailed off as she felt hot breath on her neck. Vamp Willow lay on her, pinning her down, lips tantalizingly close to her neck.

"I'm you, Will. I'm all your guilt, your darkness, your deepest, most evil desires…" her alter-ego whispered into her ear, sensually running a cool finger up and down Willow's neck. "You can make all these dreams stop, Will. You can get rid of all your fear."

"Just give in, Willow…"

"Give in…"

_No more fear, no more weakness… you know you want that. You want to _be_ someone._

"Not just Buffy's sidekick, some amateur witch and computer geek…" Tears formed in Willow's eyes as she struggled against the barrage of voices. She desperately tried to pull away, but she was held tightly. Looking up into her own eyes, filled with lust and bestiality, boring into her very soul- it was agony. "You can stop it Will. You can't get up because secretly, in your darkest moments, you want this. You want it more than anything…"

_One little bite, Fuzzy. You'll hardly feel a thing, I promise…_

Words choked in Willow's throat. "N…" she struggled, eyes drooping, the red shadows advancing. "N…no…"

Darkness enveloped her, two sharp pinpricks on her neck, then-

"NO!" Willow shot up, sending her bedcovers flying. The sky glowed with early morning light, birds chirping and the sound of a couple of cars slowly cruising down the road outside pulling her back into reality. Willow breathed heavily, cupping her face in her hands to hide her tears. "That was the closest I've ever been… I could hardly say no. She's right. I'm evil, evil, guilty, dark- all of it." Her common sense kicked in. "get a hold of yourself, Willow Rosenberg. You're a good girl. You say your prayers and get good grades and don't lie to your friends…"

XOXOXOXOXOX

"You okay, Will? You look tired…" Buffy asked as they walked through the halls of UC Sunnydale, heading for their first classes of the day.

"Yeh, I just couldn't get much sleep last night. Um… you know, full moon always makes me think of Oz, how he's doing and stuff…" Buffy gave a sympathetic smile and adjusted her bag. "That must suck for you."

"Mmm. But, Buffy, I'm branching out, you know. I'm going to the campus Wicca group today."

Buffy smiled. "Good on you." They both stopped to see Xander helping to pin up a big, pink banner that said 'Lesbian Alliance' on it. "Hey, Xander!" she called out.

"Oh, Hey Buffy, hey Will." He called back, climbing down the ladder. He saw their odd looks at the banner. "Okay, I'll come out. I'm a lesbian, guys."

"I thought you had to be a girl to be one," Willow asked, confused look on her face.

Buffy gave her a look. "He's joking, Will."

"Oh,"

Xander smirked. "You should invite your vampy-alter-ego, Will. She seemed like the type." Willow froze, suddenly uncomfortable, flashes of her dreams surfacing. The shrill ring of the bell saved her, meaning she really needed to get to class. She wished goodbye to Xander and Buffy and set off. She rushed through the hall and around the corner, accidentally bumping into someone, and her books scattered all over the floor.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" she said, bending down to pick up the books. A hand fell on top of hers, smooth and tanned. She looked up to see a familiar face. "Oh… hi, um, Kennedy."

"Hey," Kennedy replied, standing up and taking her books from Willow. "I wasn't kidding when I said that me and C were coming to school,"

Willow gulped a bit. She still couldn't shake how oddly scared she was of this girl. "Oh, uh, cool. What class are you taking?"

"Dunno yet." She shrugged, showing willow the empty notebook and binder. "I'm on my way to the office, but I'm kinda lost…"

Willow bit her lip. Her conscience said that she should show her the way, but sense said that she had to get to class. "I could show you, if you want?"

"Really? You're so sweet," Kennedy grinned and followed Willow.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Willow sat at the front of her class taking notes mechanically, but her mind was far, far away. She shuddered at the look in Kennedy's eyes; it reminded her of the look of in her own last night. It was confusing. When she had first appeared, Vamp Willow had been a separate entity, from a different world, which just happened to look exactly the same and have the same name. As time had worn on, however, the Vamp Willow of her dreams had become a part of her personality. She knew Willow's past, her thoughts, and her desires. The psychologist in Willow told her that she had just given her bad personality traits an image to work from behind, but it seemed so much more real than that. Willow could recall the feeling of being pressed to the bed, the hot breath on her neck- she was sure that she hadn't imagined that, but how was that possible? Vamp Willow was gone, and she had been in a nightmare.

"It's all too confusing!" she muttered, forcefully putting her pencil down onto her desk.

"Do you have a problem with our analysis of Freud's theory, Miss Rosenberg?"

Willow blushed with embarrassment. She had spoken aloud by accident. "No, Sorry professor…"

"Good," The professor replied. "Then you can tell us the fundamental reasons that spurred Freud to conduct his study of sexuality?"

XOXOXOXOXOX

Kennedy slammed the door behind her and swiftly unlocked the trapdoor, lithely dropping down. She observed the place that she and Chris had decided to stay: as with any good school on a hellmouth, one of the janitor's closets had a surreptitious trapdoor that led to a previously unused storage room. Once they had swept the meters of dust to one side and padlocked the entrance, it was cozy. The room was about 4x6m, with central heating pipes all along one wall. Conveniently, the girls' toilets were right next to the janitor's closet, and there was a vent where the pipes exited the room, so it was okay to use the paraffin cooker.

Chris stirred in her sleeping bag. "mornin' kenn… s'already time to get up?"

"C, that was 5 hours ago. It's lunchtime now, and you missed the first morning of lessons." Kennedy replied impatiently, searching for her wallet amongst the piles of crap that had already accumulated. "You wanna come? Rumour has it that today is Taco day."

"Kenny, I just realized something…" Chris said as she wiggled out of her sleeping bag and groped around for some clothes. "We're both too young for college."

"And?"

Chris rolled her eyes. "No offence, Kenn, but you aren't exactly a whiz kid. You were failing junior year high school, and now you're jumping straight to college?

"And you, at junior age high school, were passing senior year."

"I may be able to do your homework, but there's tests and class and stuff,"

"I'll just get Willow to help me study." Kennedy wiggled her eyebrows. Chris huffed and buttoned up her shirt.

"Kenny, she practically wet herself last night. She's really scared of you."

"There's where you're wrong." The brunette explained. "a ha!" she held her wallet up with pride. "Yeh, I talked to her this morning. She showed me the way to the office to sort out what classes I would be taking."

"whoa." Chris replied. "You're faster than usual."

"Yeh. I really, really want her. This is the first place that I've stayed at for more than a night."

"That may be partially due to the fact that she's straight." Kennedy snorted. "Straight Shmaight," she retorted, crossing her arms. "Have I ever failed before?"

"Yes," Chris said smugly, gesturing to herself.

"Hell, you were my best catch ever. Screw a one-night stand, you followed me to California, took care of me when I went through the rough transition, and continue to cook the nicest pot noodle I've ever tasted. You're _the_ catch, C."

The serious moment lasted a full second until the both started sniggering uncontrollably. Through the laughter, Chris spoke.

"That is the single sappiest thing I have ever heard you say, Kenny."

"And you love it." Kennedy's stomach gave a loud gurgle. "I think that means time for lunch."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Buffy, Xander and Willow sat on a bench outside the main college building, relaxing and munching their lunches in the sun.

"This is the life, eh Buffy?" Xander asked as he wolfed down half a sandwich. "No Vamps, no Demons, plenty of sunshine and a marmite sandwich."

Willow shuddered. "Marmite is so eww."

Buffy listened to her friends argue about marmite. She was glad that things were seemingly normal between them all now, but she had her own insecurities about college. She was finding it harder to cope, whereas Willow was thriving and Xander was pulling through with his usual stoic attitude. Her life was like a long, never-ending schedule. Wake up, go to school, come home, patrol, sleep. Repeat until weekend, when it changes to wake up, do homework accumulated from past week, train, patrol, sleep. Buffy didn't know whether she preferred this or some kind of disruption that made life more interesting.

"Help! Someone! Anyone! Claire's been attacked! Help!" said distraction came in the form of a girl in Buffy's year running out into the courtyard, screaming in hysterics. The three of them immediately stood up and ran to her. "Claire! She's been attacked! Someone! H-help…" the girl broke off into sobs.

"Shhhh, it's okay. We'll get her. Where did you find her?" Willow asked, stroking her hair and shushing her.

"T-theatre…" she sniffed, clutching Willow. "Claire…"

Willow prized the girl off herself and into the arms of some other girl she didn't recognize before running to catch up with Xander and Buffy. "Thanks!" she called back to the girl, who nodded at her meekly.

They entered the theatre, Willow bringing up the rear. "brrr!" she said, rubbing her arms. "I forgot how frosty they keep it in here… oh." She stopped as they got up to the lighting and sound box. The chair was tipped over, the cables ripped from their sockets. A trail of splats of blood ran from the entrance to the corner, where a plump, blonde girl lay propped up against the wall, skin tinged an icy blue. Xander approached her cautiously.

"Claire? Can you hear us, Claire?" his words echoed around the room, but no response. He crouched down and took the headphones off from around her neck to reveal two small circular punctures on the white flesh, blood trickling from them. He turned to Buffy. "sucked dry."

Buffy frowned. "It's the midday and the sun is beating down. Unless a vampire was waiting in here somewhere for, like, a whole day, it's impossible."

Willow suddenly cried out. "Ow!" she cupped her hands over her ears. "I just heard someone scream out for help with their thoughts. Somewhere outside!"

"We can't just leave her here."

Xander looked at Buffy. "She's not gonna turn. Buff. Do you want us to save someone who may have a chance, or lug a dead girl halfway across campus?"

Buffy conceded, and they followed Willow outside. Their eyes took a while to adjust to the harsh sunlight. They ran across campus, garnering odd looks from some peacefully munching students. The redhead skidded around a corner to see Kennedy panting, stake in hand. Huddled against the wall was the girl from earlier, that Willow had given the duty of babysitting Claire's hysterical friend.

Willow rushed over to her. "Are you okay?" she asked urgently. "Please don't say the vamp got another one!"

"No, no, I got him before he could take a chomp out of Tara here," Kennedy said between breaths, pointing to the girl. "Damn, I've never faced one who could walk around in daylight before. He was tough."

Buffy facepalmed. "Ugh. I thought I only had to deal with creepies _after_ the sun set. Now it turns out that some can play in the sun, too? Goodbye, potential life. We had a brief affair, but it was not to be…" she walked in a circle ranting to herself while Willow checked to see if Tara was okay.

"What happened?" She asked, checking her pulse and neck. She was unharmed.

"I-I don't really k-know… one minute y-you gave me I-izzie… and the next I was being c-chased by this speeding blur with red eyes… and the next, the girl in the denim j-jacket stood panting and you came round the c-corner…" she started hyperventilating.

"Shh, It's okay, Tara. He's gone. I heard your loud mental scream, but Kennedy got here faster. The vampire is dead- well, deader- and you're unharmed." She held the girl in an embrace while she regained normal breathing.

"Y-you heard my mental s-scream?" Tara asked, blue eyes wet with tears. Willow smiled warmly. "Yeh," she replied. "You must have accidentally-"

"n-no," Tara cut in. "I meant to do it. I just wasn't sure if anyone could hear it… so you must be a w-w-witch,"

"Well," Willow's modesty got the better of her. "I wouldn't say witch, but I do know one or two tricks…"

From over under the shade of a tree, Kennedy stood seething. "Get your paws of my Willow, bitch!" she mumbled, glaring at Tara. "She's mine, kay? You got lucky this time, but you're top of the hit list now…"

So? Reviews are awesome. :)


	2. Nibbling

Chapter 2: Nibbling

The Scooby Gang plus Kennedy had gathered for an emergency meeting in the library, straight after the attacks. Giles pored over a book, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "You say this vampire had no aversion to sunlight, Kennedy?"

"That's right." Kennedy leaned against the wall, picking dirt from under her fingernails. "He also wasn't ugly, you know, how the vamps are usually kinda lumpy? He just looked normally human, minus the fangs and the red eyes. Super fast bastard as well."

"Did he carry an weapons? Ones we could use to identify his origins?"

"Non that I saw…"

Giles sighed and closed the book. "I'm terribly sorry chaps, but there's not even a whisper of such a creature in here. I just suggest that we keep a look out, and maybe patrol in a group, if this creature is as agile as Kennedy suggests."

There was a murmur of assent, and the congregation split up and went their various ways. Kennedy made a beeline for the short redhead immediately. "Hey. Is Tara okay? She looked pretty shaken when I saw you helping her."

"Yeh. She's in the campus Wicca group I'm going to go to after school, so I may catch her after that and just check if she's over it. It's probably scary if you've never dealt with this kinda stuff before…" she trailed off. "But you were kinda brave, taking him on by yourself,"

Kennedy beamed, her stomach going all fuzzy. "Thanks. I like being appreciated."

"Doesn't everyone?" Willow laughed, "Well, here's my class. If you want, come to Buffy's house tonight and help us patrol. I think she could probably use the extra pair of stakes,"

"Is that a date?" Kennedy smirked as Willow blushed.

"Definitely not. Unless you want to find some evil vampire guy-" Willow received a look from Kennedy. "-or girl, and they're really into masochism of the stakey kind."

Kennedy sighed and bid Willow goodbye, ambling through the halls at a snail's pace until she came outside the door to her class, which probably started 10 minutes ago.

"It's so good to be bad," she muttered and pushed the door open, striding in like she owned the place.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Chris pulled her jacket tighter around her as she crept through one of Sunnydale's numerous graveyards, finding little security in the stake hidden up her sleeve. It wasn't going to be much use if anything happened, and it was a reminder that she was only human. She may be smart, astute and cautious, but that you mean jack if she had any unexpected visitors. The sun was on the brink of completely setting when she finally found the crypt entrance she was looking for. She nervously turned the large, rusty key in the lock. The door creaked open and, with one final look behind her, Chris stepped into the darkness.

She eased the door closed behind her and took out a powerful torch. Edging past the skeletons that littered the walls and floor, she descended further down into the earth, ears pricked for any noise. She reached the polished, ornate door to the main chamber and collected herself momentarily before giving two hard knocks, a pause, and then another. The door swung open to reveal a tall, dark man, mid-twenties in a silk dressing gown, jet-black hair streaked with blonde and white ruffled like he had just woken up. His red eyes glinted in the torchlight that lit up his home.

"Hey Chris, looking human, as always," he joked, ushering her in. "You in for the usual?"

"No, I came for wild vampire sex in a tomb, Lux,"

He laughed. "The usual, then,"

Chris pushed him lightly. "How you been? No impromptu visits from the stake patrol?"

Lux yawned and sat down, trying to get rid of his bed-hair. "Nope, all good here. I like this Sunnydale place, it's full of vampires who'll pay crazy money for what I have to offer."

"The same stuff you give me free? Geez, I feel cheated out of paying!"

"haha. Now, how long d'you want? I'm not feeling great today, though I could probably do about a week at a stretch."

"Sounds good. It's just so annoying, you know? I have to constantly keep myself all suppressed, when Kennedy goes around being all 'yeh I'm a super-good potential slayer, I kill vampires' and then she goes and makes a scene like she did in school today-"

"Shhh. Let me concentrate, you know this can go wrong." Lux closed his eyes and made a concentrating face. "You know the drill, this spell will repress your vampirism and make you nearly completely human with all the drawbacks and advantages. Trying to feed, etc, etc will reverse the spell, stake in the heart is also not advisable…" He looked at Chris, who was twiddling her thumbs impatiently. "…But it seems like you know all this already. Take my hands," she reached out and held his large hands. They both closed their eyes, and Lux began muttering under his breath. Then, white light began gathering around his chest, slowly swelling until it ran down his arms and into Chris. The ritual continued for several difficult minutes, because it's not easy for a vampire to receive pure sunlight. The strain began to show on Lux, beads of sweat forming on his brow as he clenched his teeth. He began breathing heavily and screwed up his face, willing the last light into Chris. He broke the contact and laid down, panting.

"Damn," he breathed. "I'm getting rusty. Need to practice a bit,"

Chris stood up, dusting her trousers off. "This place is kinda rusty too. And dusty. I've been 'pressed so long that crypts just don't do it for me any more…"

"Well, have fun up there. Remember to come back before it wears off, or you'll get a nasty surprise."

"Okay. Thanks, Lux."

"No, thank _you_. I wouldn't still be here- I'd be a pile of dust in your mom's closet, if not for you."

"And I'd still be human," Chris smiled, gave him a quick kiss, wished him goodbye and went back up to the surface. She closed the crypt door behind her softly.

"…Forgot how creepy these places are…" Chris heard a voice from around the corner.

"Shit!" she mumbled to herself, padding over to behind a big grave and crouching down, breath baited. She watched, as the sound of grass crunching became three people, the first of whom she recognized as the slayer, blonde and confident. Behind her, Kennedy strode, keeping as close as possible to a frightened-looking redhead. From Kenny's constant talk about her, Chris knew this was 'Willow': and the brunette was right, there was magic pouring off her, now more than ever because she was scared. "niiiiice…"

Buffy's head snapped towards Chris' hiding place, hand gripping her stake tighter. "Did you guys hear something?" she asked, advancing.

Willow's face contorted in fright and she instinctively latched onto the arm of Kennedy's jacket, causing the girl to smirk and give Willow a look.

'God, you're such a womanizer…' Chris thought, eyes trained on Buffy, trying to judge whether she was coming over here.

"Show yourself, creature of the night!" she said strongly, shining her flashlight onto the gravestone Chris was behind. Chris panicked for a moment. What should she do? What should she say? She was about to stand up when Kennedy's smooth voice called out to her.

"You can come out, Chris." Chris obliged and stood up, hoping Kennedy had a descent plan.

Buffy eyed Chris suspiciously. "What are you doing in a graveyard at night?" Kennedy smirked at her and raised an eyebrow accusingly. "Yeh, Chris, what's up?"

The blonde cursed under her breath as she felt complete blankness envelop her mind. An alibi was nowhere to be found, so Chris locked eyes with Kennedy and gave a desperate look. Kennedy's expression was blank, but suddenly Chris felt the oddest feeling of not fully being switched on. Words tumbled out of her mouth on their own, words that Chris knew came from Kennedy. "I came looking for you guys, but graveyards are kinda scary… so when I heard you all crunching ya way along, I thought I was the entrée for a gang of vamps, so I hid…"

Chris broke eyes contact with Kennedy, feeling totally freaked out. The brunette's eyes were dark as coal and shimmered sinisterly in the pallid light of the moon, which was waxing. She felt control flood backing into her limbs, a feeling akin to very cold blood pumping around her body, and she immediately leaned on the gravestone for support.

"Oh... okay. It's kinda dangerous to go alone, though, so try and go either with Kennedy from where you're staying, or come to either my house or Willow's if you're going about after dark."

"You sound like a lollipop-man who's tired of telling children how to cross the road…" Kennedy remarked, picking dirt out from underneath her nails and motioning for Chris to come and join their little patrol group.

Willow spoke up. "Except, there's a stake and not a lollipop… but other than that it's like, the same, right? Stake and lollipop, yeah…" she looked at the odd looks that the other three girls were giving her and trailed off, blushing and embarrassed. Kennedy looked at her in pity, deciding to hoist the girl out of the hole she was digging.

"You could be Buffy the Vampire-slaying Traffic warden. You know, multi-purpose lollipop-sake, dust the vamp and be back to the zebra crossing in time for the kids?" she suggested, glancing at Chris discreetly on the word 'vamp'.

Buffy posed thoughtfully, holding her chin in her hand for a second, looking smart. "Let me think… no."

Kennedy shrugged. "Just a suggestio-" she was cut off abruptly when the noise of something being impaled rang around the graveyard. She twisted around to see a knife sticking in her back and a very pleased-looking vampire. He was about six feet, chubby and wearing clothing from the 1960s, even though he looked no older than 18. His frizzy brown hair bobbed under his baseball cap as he watched in delight and Kennedy stared in horror at the knife jutting from her lower back.

Buffy's face hardened as she took a stake from her sleeve and ran towards him. He was a little shocked, but ducked her attack and wheeled around, taking another knife from inside his coat. Buffy flipped back around and did a low, sweeping kick to try and get him off-balance. He jumped it easily, very quickly for his weight. The vamp brandished the knife at her and slashed wildly, causing a little rip in the shoulder of Buffy's leather jacket. She stared at him angrily.

"That was my favourite jacket!" she shouted indignantly jumping high and coming in hard an fast to stake him while he was smug that he had made a scratch. As she bore down on him, he collapsed into a pile of dust before she could sink her stake it. She looked up to see Kennedy smiling, brushing off her hands.

"Thanks for the distraction, B,"

Willow and Buffy gaped in horror, but Chris just ran her hand through her hair. How usual of Kennedy to do something like that, not even bother to act injured or discreet.

Buffy was the first to open her mouth, gaping like a fish out of water. "One, you just got stabbed in the back and should be on the floor dying, and two, do you know one Faith Lehane?"

Kenendy smirked. She leaned over her shoulder and pulled the knife out in one jerky motion, wincing slightly as the blood stained her tank top. "Okay, answers…" she looked at the knife and wiped the blood off on the grass, pocketing it. No use wasting weapons. "One, I may only be a potential, but I'm tough. And two, yeh, I do."

"How?"

"She's my half-sister."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Meanwhile, across town on a long, cobbled street in a recreational park, Xander Harris and Rupert Giles walked the narrow length, both laden with old and dusty tomes. Xander kept sneezing when the dust of possible centuries wafted up his nose. "Are we nearly there yet?" he asked impatiently, spooked out by the dark shadows and overhanging foliage.

"It's only a little farther, stop whining. This daywalking vampire presents a large problem. We can patrol around at night, but Buffy is in school during the day and we would be wiser to let her stay there- she's very attached to the place. We have to find as much as we can on how this is happening… we could have another Big Bad on our hands." Giles replied, exasperated, arms aching from all the books. Had they always been this heavy? Maybe he should start working out again…

Xander grumbled a reply and continued walking. He wouldn't admit it, not to Giles or Buffy or anyone, but he was scared. So scared… He made his way through it by laughing and shrugging it off, but at night, when he was alone with only the shadows of his bedroom for company, Xander the big, macho, joker became Xander the scared little kid. And what was more, that Kennedy girl made him uneasy. He cared for Willow deeply, he was her best friend, and he didn't want her getting hurt by some playgirl who just wanted to use her and lose her. But other than that, there was something about the brunette that unsettled him deeply, something more than her overt flirting. It was then that it hit him: he couldn't see behind her eyes. Xander, though not a super-slayer or a budding witch, could look into a person's eyes and know exactly what they were feeling. Kennedy's were not cold, exactly, just detached. Like she saw through a haze, like she had a barrier erected to stop people getting to her feelings.

Before he knew it, they stood outside the Summers' residence. Giles somehow found a free appendage to ring the doorbell, and a few moments later, Buffy's mom stood at the doorway in a dressing gown. She saw Giles and Xander behind their piled of books and her eyes widened. "Come in, Mr. Giles, Xander, it must be freezing out there!" she ushered them into her home scanning the road in from of her before closing the door. "What brings you here? Buffy went out with Willow a couple of hours ago…"

Giles deposited his books on the sitting room table and wiped his brow. "Ah, good, she'll be back soon then. We need to do some research," he explained, wiping his glasses and replacing them.

"I see. Well, there's drinks and food in the fridge. I'll be upstairs." She absentmindedly declared before drifting up the staircase. Xander and Giles looked at each other and shrugged. Usually Mrs. Summers would grill them for the latest information on her daughter and hover around- she was oddly placid. Giles put it down to tiredness and his own good luck. Dealing with this sensitive, possibly apocalyptic stuff would be easier without Grace. Speaking of apocalypse, wasn't he getting ahead of himself? Two vampire attacks during daylight could just be something small. Giles sighed to himself, thinking how just being in this town made him think end of the world. The woes of a Watcher…

XOXOXOXOXOX

"So when this skanky-looking girl shows up on the doorsep of our mansion saying she's my sister… things got interesting." Kennedy ran her hand along the railing of the same park walkway that Xander and Giles had traversed down earlier, regaling the story of how she knew Faith. "We took her in and she explained that Daddy had got with some random hooker in Boston, and 9 months later, she was born- though this was before Mom and Daddy got married and had me- and now Faith's mom had disappeared and left her to fend for herself, so she had no place to go but her dad's. Mom was kinda outraged, but let it go after a while and we took Faith in. I was like, 13 at the time; she was a few years older. She stayed for a couple of months, and Mom tried to make her into a proper lady, but it didn't really work. She was loud, she swore, she took boys into her room… my parents were really kinda relived when this woman showed up saying that she was Faith's Watcher and that she would be taking care of her from now on. She had official-looking papers. Then, Faith was gone…"

The other three girls remained silent, as Kennedy was obviously going to continue- she had a talkative side that came out in full force when she got the chance, they had discovered.

"And then…" the brunette suddenly got all far away. "A year later, I was 14 and a half. The Watcher came for me. She said I had potential. At the time, I was clueless. She went for a long talk with my parents, flashed some more official papers… my parents were suckers for them. Then, I was told that she was going to teach me stuff- stuff I needed to know. So every day after school, I trained with her. Judo, Tai Kwon Do, Pilates, Fitness, Boxing- I did it all. After a year, she finally clued me in. explained to me about vampires, demons, slayers and stuff. I was way skeptical… but when we started actually doing the slaying, I got totally into it. I was in my blood, y'know? I thirsted for it… it seemed like I had this awesome, dual-identity life, until…"

Kennedy was very quiet all of a sudden. Chris knew to stay silent: the emotions from that night were still raw for Kenny… she didn't want the potential to get all messed up and teary now, when she needed to be strong. The blonde therefore remained tact, but Willow, deeply engrossed into the story and not knowing why Kennedy had trailed off, eagerly spoke up.

"So? What happened then?"

The usually energetic girl looked at Willow darkly, an expression that se had never worn in front of her before. She swallowed and shoved her hands in her pockets, taking a deep breath.

"Turns out, loads of Vamps in the area were with this Cult thing, under this extremely powerful bloodsucker called the Duke. He had been slowly coming back to power, and found out that me and my Watcher had been dusting his kids. So…" she took a deep breath, scrunching her hands up tight, knuckles turning white. "So, I was at my Junior Prom. My Watcher had granted me special permission, as long as I went with her daughter, who she would speak to me through if anything happened. Chris and I went, and while we were having a great time, the Duke got into my house and sired my parents. I got home, noticing nothing different. Duke was powerful, so Mom and Dad appeared pretty damn human. I hugged them goodnight and went to bed."

Kennedy stopped, thankful for the inviting saffron lights of the Summers' porch, at which they had stopped. Buffy stood there quietly before turning to Kennedy. "I'm so sorry, Kennedy. I didn't know-"

"How would you have?" the brunette cut her off. "I didn't hand you my autobiography when I got here, so you have no reason to know jack about me or C. It's not like a ask you for a DMC, so lay off, kay? We got our own lives. I, for one, don't wanna be one of your Justice League of do-gooder teenagers! I'm just here 'coz… 'coz there's loads of vamps to slay, get it? And slaying gives me a high. I owe no-one nothing."

There was a pointed silence. Willow rose her gaze to meet with Kennedy's angry eyes, keeping the contact between them. She shivered as she glimpsed something in there, in the way that Kennedy's eyes were do dark that she couldn't even see the real emotion behind them. The blackness made Willow uneasy- it set her witchy-sense reeling like nothing ever had before. Even so, she still spoke softly to the younger girl, holidng the eyes contact.

"Then why are you here?"


	3. Itching

Chapter 3: Itching

Kennedy sat in her dark little room under the school, huddled in the corner while Chris snored softly in her sleeping bad a few feet away. It was pitch black as no natural light came into the room, but Kennedy didn't mind. Darkness was the best place for dark thoughts.

After Willow had asked her that awkward question, the brunette had just stood in silence while formulating the most scathing thing she could say back to her. But even though she could curse in many different languages, some not even know any more, she couldn't bring herself to say anything to the redhead. They stood there, eyes interlocked, for what seemed like an age; Willow sending out tendrils of curiosity and confusion, Kennedy blocking them with anger and reluctance. When Kennedy couldn't take it any longer, she had groaned exasperatedly and elbowed her way through the Scoobies, grabbing Chris's wrist and marching away into the night, muttering and cussing.

"I tell them my bloody life story, and this is what I get? A pat on the back and a pseudo-sympathetic look? We've been here like a day and I'm already at my wit's end, C…"

Chris sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "The only things that I could suggest would make you feel better are sex and food. I don't really see you getting much of the former, since you're all new and it's really late, and I can't really help you with the latter."

Kennedy sighed and put her hands behind her head, staring at the sky. " You owe me for that. I swear, you should tell me if you're gonna get 'pressed while the Justice League are on patrol." She laughed a little, though it didn't reach her eyes. "We wouldn't want little vampy to get staked by Karate-Prom Queen, would we?"

Chris gave her a serious look. "Don't get all cocky, Ken. She hasn't shown us just how strong she is, yet."

"Well, however strong she is as a _Slayer_, I'm stronger." Kennedy balled her fists and growled, her eyes flashing red. "She's just sat back in her little house with her great mom and her circle of friends and waited for the vamps to line up for her to dust."

Chris put her hand on Kennedy's shoulder to try and calm the girl down. If she went into a rage, she'd be hell to deal with, and Chris was tired: getting suppressed had that effect, since all her vampire strength and endurance had been taken from her. A wave of jealousy ran over Chris as she looked at Kennedy, seeing the infinite energy roll off her in huge waves of power. However, Chris was logical, and she knew that Ken had a lot to deal with, but the blonde was often overlooked. Chris's mom was dead, her home life destroyed. She was dangling between human and vampire, often tilting either way over short spans of time. Kennedy had it all… it was at this point in her thoughts that Chris noticed that Kennedy was no longer walking beside her.

"Ken?" she called out, doing a full 360-degree turn around the deserted street. "C'mon, Kenny, come out. You don't wanna do this, it's late and we have school tomorrow!"

Chris closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She summoned the little magic she possessed and extended her hearing further than it normally would go. She quickly picked up faint sound of hurried footfalls along a nearby street and recognized Kennedy's energy. She quickly began to run after her, knowing that now she was really riled up, she'd do something stupid.

Something stupid, like…

"Kenny! Calm down!" Chris yelled as she panted after the potential slayer. She rounded the corner to see Kennedy's spasming body, splayed out on the cobbled street. Her eyes flashed red and black and her normal brown as she grimaced in pain. Chris walked over to her and crouched down. Gently tucking some of Kennedy's mocha-coloured hair behind her ear, Chris hushed her. She got like this sometimes. She'd try to get so angry and dark that her slayer side would well up and try and… well, slay herself. It manifested itself in fits. In the time Chris and Kennedy had known each other, the potential had only done this four times, including this, but each time Chris had felt some more of the girl she knew, the girl she took to the prom, slip away. It was a sickening feeling, knowing how her friend was slipping into oblivion, losing her grip on morality.

"Shh… c'mon, Kenny, look at me…" Chris whispered, coaxing the brunette's head up from the floor, but her eyes lolled blankly around her head as her body continued to twitch and spasm in Chris's arms. "You're strong, Kennedy. You know you are. Come back to me… please?"

Kennedy calmed slowly after that. Her eyes still stared vacantly across the street, but her body breathed routinely and she regained some basic motor functions. This was enough for Chris to pull her up and coax her, one step of a time, into going back home.

Of course, home was in the school, and was not exactly the most accessible place, especially at this time of night and with Kennedy incapacitated. Chris stopped walking and collapsed on a park bench, the potential's body propped up next to her. "I wish I could pity you, Kenny… You've got it kinda hard. But… sometimes I feel like I've also not got the life I wanted, you know? When we're high, we can joke about it and put up one hell of a façade of bravado, but when you're low, you drag me down with you. You're still a selfish, spoiled, child, you know that Kenny? And you'll never change. Not in ten years, not in a hundred. Not in the eternity we'll both have. And the worst bit? You have to go through it 'cause of me. And however happy you were when it was just you and me, having fun and being young forever… it will slip away, Kenn. It's already slipping. I mean, look at you. Every time you do this, you get angrier. You cuss more, you drink more, you have more one-night stands, and you feed twice as much. You're seventeen! And still, you try and fill this ever-growing gaping hole in your soul that yearns for someone to love, but you do it the wrong way! You can't just do to a person what I did to you! I wish I could make you see!" Chris abruptly stopped, trying to quiet down, because she had been starting to shout. She sighed and stood up again. "Let's get you to bed then, Kennedy…"

Contrary to what Chris thought, Kennedy had heard every word, crystal clear. She sat, pondering. She knew and trusted Chris… so why had the blonde been so quick to say that she was changing? How did she _know_? Chris wasn't Kennedy, and though she may have some idea, she couldn't possibly fathom what was going on with her at the moment. Did she have any right to say what she had? No. Kennedy ground her teeth together in anger, fists clenching the rough fabric of her jeans. Thoughts flowed freely through her rapidly deteriorating mind- her animal brain was throwing all of her basic urges at her tenfold what they normally would. She wanted to break, to smash, to drink, to feed, to feel the heaving and sweaty body of some poor girl writhe beneath her. She _wanted_ it… so badly. Kennedy flexed her neck muscles, needing to break out of her restricting skin. She gently reached out and felt the weak but frustratingly effective barrier that Chris had placed around the room. Usually, it would keep nasties out, but in her current state of mind, it was keeping Kennedy in.

"I could break it…" she mused out loud, though her voice came out raspy and faint. She stood up silently and felt the barrier around the room, searching for weak spots. She found an odd concentration of energy and focused on it, trying to see why it was there. The mass was a dull gold and throbbing softly on the other end of the room, giving out light enough to illuminate a corner that had been cleared of dust. She padded over to it and found a single, white candle, dimly lit by the excess energy. A post-it note was attached to it, though the writing was unfamiliar. Kennedy picked both items up and shifted closer to the light so that she could read the note.

_Kennedy,_

_Chris said that you might have had trouble sleeping, so I found this candle. It will put you in a peaceful slumber when burned inside the energy field I put around your place earlier, because frankly, Chris's was… well, um… it's was very good, of course, but I just thoughts some extra help would be good… um, yeh._

_Sleep Well,_

_Willow_

Kennedy stood, dumbfounded, for a moment. She even had enough sense to momentarily think that the care Willow had gone through was sweet. Inevitably, an uninhibited wave of two overpowering emotions accosted her at once: desire and anger. They washed over her like a freezing shower in the desert, sending her body into a feral state. She hurled the candle across the room in fury, letting out a howl of rage that sent the pipes vibrating, and hurled herself up at the trapdoor, meeting the hot, buzzing surface of the shield. It threw her back onto the hard ground. Chris shot up from her sleeping bag and scrambled to her feet, wildly looking around for the perpetrating demon, but saw only Kennedy groaning and pushing herself up from the floor.

"You're awake." She said, unsure of what to do. The brunette slayer-to-be looked her way and growled before turning her attention back to the ripples of greenish light that were fading from the shield above her. "Kenn, anyone would think you were a werewolf who's kinda bad at transforming. Calm down."

There was deathly silence as Chris stared into Kennedy's eyes, dark and swirling with feral rage. She levelly crossed her arms and leaned back on her left leg, observing the girl's inner struggle. "I'm mad at you, Kenny. You're mood swings are worse- you treat me like dirt then go back to best friends, then go all growly on me. It's annoying." She stated, staring the girl down. Chris had the feeling that if she could keep being authorative for a while help would come-

-In the form of not one, but three bodies crashing through the trapdoor, falling to the floor in the centre of the room, nursing their various bruised body parts. One stood up and held out a hand, muttering until the light in the room seemed to suddenly switch on. Willow, Xander and Buffy stood up and looked around for the demon attacking the barrier, only to find Kennedy and Chris staring dumfounded at them from the other end of the room. Xander relaxed and threw his arms up in a gesture of defeat.

"Am I getting paid overtime? 'Cause between Giles and his books and coming all the way to UC-Sunny-D in the middle of the night, you owe me big."

Willow looked confused. "I'm all confuzzled,"

"You and me both, Will," Buffy spoke up, stepping forward in a confrontational manner. "That barrier only works on mystical stuff, and there is obviously nothing in here but you two. Will felt the disturbance really well, which means it had to be strong. Potential slayer or not, you're stronger than you should be,"

She fixed her green eyes levelly on Kennedy's dark and tumultuous ones. The brunette was currently couched, leaning against the wall where the barrier had thrown her. She was sobering up from her little fit of anger, but the call to battle still sang through her blood, threatening to override her higher brain's commands.

Chris turned out to be the savior. She took a step to Buffy and put on her best pitiful look, lowering her voice. "Look… we're sorry we didn't tell you… but Kenn is tainted."

Three different reactions followed: Willow clasped her hand over her mouth, Buffy furrowed her eyebrows and Xander just continued staring blankly at Chris.

"What's 'tainted', Will?" Buffy asked, habitually reaching for the stake she kept in her back pocket.

"It's when a human has been exposed to an amount of demon substance, usually magic, but there are some others… oh, I wish I'd read that book more thoroughly…"

Chris, given the time to prepare her explanation, continued as Willow's babbling faded. "I'm sure you'll know, witch, but when you bring someone back from a mystical death, they loose a bit of their humanity. Let's just say that by her third death, Kenn's humanity was kinda on the rocks. So… we found one of those demons- y'know, the weird, human-demon fluctuating ones? And got some of their blood when it was in human form. We used that to bring Kenn back, but it turns out…"

"In human form, they have 7 parts demon blood to 1 part human blood, and vice versa in demon form." Willow finished, staring at Kennedy's now deeply breathing form in horror. "So… what is she?"

Chris crossed her arms and sighed. "Mostly human, but she's got the deaths on top of the blood, plus the slayer-ness, so she's pretty messed up. She gets like this sometimes, when she's angry. That's why I suggested the barrier…"

The room was silent as the dust settled.

"Why should we believe a word you say? You're already plenty suspicious, sneaking around graveyards, dark auras, living at _school_? How do we know you're not demons or something?" Buffy remained on-edge. She didn't like Kennedy, and Chris was beginning to get to her. She didn't want to deal with all these things on top of the new year of college when she was already failing. "You've been here, what, a couple days, and you've got us knee-deep already! I could just slay her and be done with it… Buffy's eyes lingered on Kennedy.

Willow was the one to veto this. She stepped in front of the slayer and gave her a very stern look. "Buff, she's human. She may be a bit demon-y now and then, but she's still human, for god's sake! You don't slay humans. You slay demons and vampires."

Chris was lucky that it was too dark for anyone to see her stiffen slightly at the words 'slay' and 'vampires'.

Buffy calmed down and returned her stake to her pocket. "Okay. I get it, don't slay her. But Will, if she causes trouble, I gotta. It's my job."

"She won't, thanks to your shield." Chris gestured to Willow. "Why don't you light that candle?"

XOXOXOXOXOX

Willow sat in bed, mesmerized by the candle that burned silently on her bedside table. I was the partner to the one she had lit for Kennedy about an hour ago. She was tired, but didn't want to sleep. Or rather, she didn't want to dream, because she knew that Vamp Willow would be back.

"I wish there was some kind of spell for dreamless sleep," she muttered, pulling her covers further up the bed. "Actually… that's not a bad idea… but I don't have any spell-books in the house… rats." She mused for a while. "That girl from the Wicca group, what was her name?"

"Tara." Willow turned sharply to see the same dark leather-clad figure that haunted her.

"Go away…" she sighed, wondering how she fell asleep so easily. And how she felt so conscious. "Seriously, Not in the mood for you right now."

Her alter ego smiled mischievously. "Ooh, feisty all of a sudden. Makes a welcome change from softer-than-Sears…" She giggled at her own joke. "So, what ya been up to since our last DMC?"

Willow sat, kind of frightened and kind of surprised. An evil vamparic version of herself was asking her about her day. It was so not right, but she decided to play along with it.

"New girl."

"The rather fetching brunette with the anger-management issues?"

Willow nodded, glancing at the candle. "B-but… it's not like I find her fetching, kay? I mean, yes, she's a pretty girl, anyone could see that, but _I _personally don't like her in that way, yeh? You might, but you're…"

"Kinda gay?" Vamp Willow laughed and suddenly seemed less threatening. "You could say that. But, y'know, your doppelganger does share many characteristics with you, and, of course, you think I'm just an extension of your own consciousness, which means you- or, I- really do fancy her a bit…"

"Shut up! I miss my _boy_friend very much!" Willow could not believe she was getting playfully teased by… herself? She really wasn't sure what Vamp Willow was any more.

"Whatever." The leather-clad vampire ended that thread of conversation and started another. "So… what are you gonna do about her?"

"Kennedy? I don't know, really, maybe just help her fit in more around here. Wow, she's died three times-"

"Thrice." The vampire corrected.

"Thrice, whatever, she must have a pretty hard time. I think she just wants to settle down somewhere for a while. She needs friends to support her, not just Chris."

Vamp Willow gave her a soft, teasing look. "Fuzzy, you're whipped."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Well, you must be one hell of a narcissist, since you're not jumping me and sinking your pearly whites into my neck as usual." Willow responded indignantly, changing the subject.

A smirk. "Am I not allowed to chat with my alter-ego?"

"Not when you usually just want to seduce her. Which, by the way, is gross."

"Whatever you say, princess. But seriously, do you want some advice from someone who's lived a hell of a lot longer than you?" Vamp Willow asked, sitting down on the chair beside Willow's bed.

"Depends. If it's 'don't run with scissors' or 'look both ways before crossing', then no thanks."

"I was actually gonna say always use a condom, but the other two are good as well," she laughed. This was the weirdest thing ever. Willow Rosenburg sat in her bedroom in the middle of the night, exchanging banter with an evil, vamparic version of herself that was well-known or seducing girls, including her. Yet, Willow felt kind of comfortable, since herself wasn't going to judge herself… that's a bit of a brain-twister… but she was just glad that Vamp Willow wasn't scary any more. Then, she felt worried. Did this mean she was turning over to the dark side? "Fuzzy?"

"Mm?" Willow snapped out of her reverie. "Oh, advice, yeh, hit me."

Lift of the eyebrows. "Really? Ooh, I thought you missed your _boy_friend…"

"Not like that! Get your mind out of the gutter." Willow turned fifty different shades of pink at once.

"Okay. Look, Willow, I know we don't get along. But you have to listen to me. Stay away from that Kennedy girl, okay? I don't just mean she's into smoking or whatever. I mean she's trouble. Big-bad trouble. And her little '_human_' friend Chris is just as bad. I like ya, Fuzz, and I'd rather you stayed alive."

Willow looked at the surprisingly sincere-looking vampire. "Oh… thanks, I guess."

"No probs." The vampire stuck out her hand. "Truce?"

Willow looked at her and couldn't see any ulterior intent. She met the vampire's cold hand with her own, sweaty one. "Truce."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Please read and review! Or alert, or fave, or c2, or anything. I loooooove feedback. Look out for the next installment next weekend. I do work on a 'write chapter during the week when at school with no Internet and upload when I get home on the weekend' basis. I also can't respond to reviews, so sorry :(

~Emiri


	4. Avoiding

Chapter 4: Avoiding

When Kennedy woke up, she felt better than she had in a long time. He mind was clear and optimistic, filled with happy thoughts, her body was not too sluggish but not over-infused with energy either. She blinked and stood up, realizing that the room was lit up with the same light as she imagined was outside: dawn. She saw Chris, up oddly early, poking and prodding a ball of energy in the corner, from which the light was radiating.

She turned around when she heard Kennedy approaching. "Seems Will gave us a little gift," she mused, feeling the comforting warmth of the light. "Sleep well?"

"Yeh… I feel really good, but last night is a bit fuzzy in places."

Chris looked at her sadly. "You had another fit."

"oh."

They were silent and awkward as Kennedy scorned herself for probably causing Chris a load of trouble. "How…"

"The Justice League turned up, Willow calmed you down."

"…I guess I should thank her. At school."

Chris smiled at Kennedy in a 'you're-so-confused' way. She knew that Kennedy, since the prom, had not kept anyone by her close, and was starting to realize that if she stayed here for a while, they'd end up making friends- which was actually an alien concept to Kennedy anyway, since she hadn't been a very sociable child either. But Chris was glad that she could find a way to get the girl into a world that had any semblance of normality. Then again, a familiar anger bubbled up within her, but she subdued it, remembering that they had both ha a rough night.

Maybe everything would look better in the light of day.

"C'mon," Chris said, hoisting her rucksack onto her shoulder and unlocking the padlock that kept the trapdoor closed. She heard a low growling noise from behind and turned quickly to see what was wrong, only to lay eyes upon Kennedy blushing slightly and holding her stomach. "Breakfast?"

"Would be appreciated…" was the reply and Kennedy gave her an apologetic look. They scrambled out of the trapdoor and into the darkened corridors of UC Sunnydale.

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Thanks for c-coming all the way h-here just to walk m-m-me to school…" Tara quietly thanked, her long blonde hair falling in curtains around her face as she dared not look at the charismatic redhead that was walking beside her. So many things about her fascinated Tara: the fact that she always smiled, her confidence- what a change from the dorky and quiet Willow that Tara had occasionally come across at high school- she had really come into herself. Tara sighed, thinking that perhaps she never would.

"Honestly, it's no problemo- and I wanted to talk to you anyways," Willow explained, smiling at Tara, who reminded her of herself a few years ago; she really wanted to help her come out of her shell so much.

"W-what about?" The blonde asked chancing a quick glace to her right. She was astounded at how the morning light shone through Willow's vermillion hair so beautifully- a quick glance turned into a look, which became a stare.

"I know I have bed hair, but is it _that_ bad?" She asked, meeting Tara's eyes. She squeaked and turned away.

"N-nn-nnn-n-no! Your h-hair is v-vv-very nice!" She cursed herself for staring. How Willow would think she was weird and she'd never have any friends-

A warm hand rested on her shoulder. "Thanks," She turned cautiously to see a wonderfully kooky smile- something she'd caused. Suddenly Tara felt okay.

"You're w-welcome… And, um," she breathed in, steeling herself to say what she had wanted to since the attack. "Thank you, also… for y-yesterday. I was s-so scared… I knew about vampires and s-stuff, but it attacked me d-during the d-dd-day! I really, r-really didn't know they c-could do that…" she looked to Willow looking into the sky with a faraway look in her eyes. "Oh…"

"What?" she asked, turning her sparkling eyes back to Tara. "Go on- I was listening, you know. I babble too, my friends are used to trying to pick out the important bits," she chuckled and resumed staring into the sky, a which point there was a silence. After a while, Willow spoke up again.

"It's just like- my life has been crazy- amazing crazy, but still crazy, since I got involved with Buffy and the whole Vampire-Slaying deal. People have died… But it was like we only had to do it after school, after our normal lives ended, we could slip back into 'Scooby Gang' mode, and the next morning, we'd be high schoolers again. I just don't think I'm ready to give myself completely to that life, but with day-walking vampires, it makes attack at any point likely…" she shook her head. "And now other people are getting involved thick and fast… people close to home."

Tara didn't know what to say. She hadn't known Willow longer than a day and the girl was already spilling all her innermost fears.

"But enough of that! I wanted to ask you something. It's kind of personal though," Tara stiffened. How could Willow tell? What had she heard? Did people gossip about Tara? Was it well known all around school?

"Um, go on…" Tara said, bracing herself.

"You seemed different from the rest of the girls at Wicca group, when I went last night. I mean, I went to make sure you were okay, but while they were talking about bakesales and stuff, you wanted to get serious about it."

Tara blew a sigh of relief, and felt something great bubble up inside her. This was her area of expertise- where she shined. She had no stutter as she talked this time.

"I've been practicing since… well, ever. My mom was, too. I mean, I don't have much success, but… I try. I really believe in it… I feel like, more like myself when I'm doing it… but it has to be secret. People would freak. My family might come and try and take me back home… I…"

"Shh." Willow smiled. "I'm glad I've found someone who's into Witchcraft. I'd love to learn how to do more than just float a pencil."

"Um, if you w-wanted…" Tara cursed as her nervousness returned, but breathed in and continued. "I'm moving into a dorm later this week. Maybe once I'm in, we could, m-meet up and try something?"

That smile again. It was truly beautiful, heart-warming, even. "That sounds great." Willow glanced at the entrance gates. "Wow, time passes quickly when you're having fun, huh?"

"Fun?" Tara asked, astounded. She was fun? No-one had even bothered to compliment her, or even hang out with her, since she'd come to UC Sunnydale. And here was this funny, beautiful girl who shared her interests and was willing to talk and even meet up with her. Fate had finally thrown her a rope.

Willow made an odd face. "Of course! You're great to hang out with. Full of interesting things to say."

Tara was interesting. Tara was great to hang out with. Willow's words washed over her, and for the first time in a while, a smile crept onto her face.

"You should put your hair back. Then more people can see you smile."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Buffy groaned as she saw the big, red D on her essay. She had spent ages trying to get it right, and now Professor Walsh gave her a big, fat D for Delinquent. She felt a shadow come over her desk. She looked up to see Riley Finn, the TA, leaning over her desk and looking sadly at her paper.

"Ouch," He said, peering down at her paper. "Must suck- I saw you at the library like, every day doing that."

"Yeh, well…"

His eyebrows rose. "No witty, sarcastic comment? The grapevine informs me you're quite famous for them,"

"It's just… I studied hard for this paper, and though I'm not the sparkiest match in the box, I tried, y'know?"

Riley looked thoughtful. "If you like, we could meet up and I could go through this with you- see what's stopping Prof Walsh from giving you the A you worked for."

"Like a tutor thing?" Buffy asked, stopping herself from giving Riley a once-over. She hadn't noticed just how attractive he was before. "Um… yeh, I guess."

"great." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Then see me after class and we can arrange some times." Professor Walsh's shrill voice, telling people to take their seats and listen in caught his attention and he gave her a brief smile before returning to the front.

The door banged open and Willow stumbled in, breath ragged and face bright red. "I'm really, really, really sorry I'm late, Professor Walsh!" she squeaked, as the whole class trained their eyes on her, and a little bit of pre-college shyness shone through.

Walsh's eyebrows rose. "Miss Rosenburg- it's rare to see you late to my class. I will offer you a pardon if you could please explain the reason for this lateness?"

Willow shifted from foot to foot. She had been so occupied with talking to Tara about some intricacies of a seeking ritual that she had failed to perform many times that she had completely forgotten the time. She was about to open her mouth to spout a big, babbling lie, but the narrow eyes of Professor Walsh seemed able to sear right into her soul, and presumably sniff out a lie even before it was told. "Um," she said, eyes trained on the floor. "I got talking to someone and lost track of time. I'm sorry, Professor, it'll never happen again."

Walsh eyed her for a brief second, before confirming the integrity of her half-truth and motioning for Willow to sit down. Relived, she walked up to her seat next to Buffy and pulled out her folder, prepping herself to take notes.

As Walsh explained the structure of the essay she wanted them to write, Buffy twiddled her pen around her fingers, not taking her eyes of where Riley was standing behind professor Walsh. Willow noticed her friend's disconnection and nudged her slightly.

"What are you doing?" she whispered behind her folder.

"The TA, hopefully," Buffy answered absentmindedly. Willow's mouth dropped open, promptly causing Buffy to realize what she had just said. "Ah! Er… I mean… just daydreaming."

Willow grinned evilly and crossed her arms. "At this stage I would be worried about what this daydream concerns and whether you or Mr. Finn are fully clothed in it…"

A pinkish blush crept into Buffy's cheeks.

And then everything happened _very_ quickly.

The double doors to the room flew open with a great, echoing bang, and in strode Kennedy, bag carelessly slung over her shoulder and hair slightly mussed. Before anything else could happen, however, Riley shouted an indeterminable word and flung himself at her, pushing her down onto the hard floor.

"Get the fuck off me!" she shouted, kneeing him where it hurt most and jumping up. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, you perv! In case you didn't get the memo, I don't play for your team." She paused for a moment. "Who the fuck are you anyway?"

"Excuse me!" Professor Walsh shouted over the loud hubbub, stepping out from behind her desk. "You!" She pointed at Kennedy. "There will be no foul language in my classroom! And Riley, what on earth possessed you to do that?" She glared particularly hard at the TA. Willow didn't miss the look that passed between them, and she sensed something deeper.

Subconsciously, she let out probing tendrils of consciousness to find out what was going on. Gasping as they shot out without inhibition, Willow felt everything in the campus- she felt overpowering emotions- sadness at a bad test score, elation at being elected class president- along with the most intoxicating sensation of all: _magic_.

"Holy Shit!" she uncharacteristically screamed at the wave. It crashed down upon her poor, untrained senses- it was like everything good that can happen to a person clashed relentlessly with pure, undiluted evil, all within her body. It tore at her mind, suffusing her tingling limbs with a force that felt like it would burst out and leave her a pile of bones and flesh on the floor. Her head swum with spots of every colour she knew- and some she didn't. Her normal vision was suddenly taken over by technicolour forms that radiated energy. Pupils dilating so much that her eyes were taken over with blackness, Willow's weak magical barriers broke down and she was enveloped by the hellmouth.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Willow awoke to the soft hum of an air-conditioning unit and the smell of antiseptic. A sniff sheet covered up to her neck, but she was fully clothed except for her jumper underneath. Opening her eyes, she found soft brown ones looking at her from her bedside.

"Morning, sleepyhead!" Kennedy greeted, face lifting into a smile. "You should know that napping during schooltime isn't allowed."

Willow groggily sat up, wondering what had happened- then she remembered the magic. Just thinking about the feeling made her dizzy, and she fell back onto her pillow with a groan.

"Steady there, cowgirl. You're not in tip-top shape at the moment- incorrectly diagnosed as anemia by the school nurse, of course. Crazy lesson, huh?" She twirled a lock of her caramel hair around her finger.

"Eh…" everything came back to Willow. "What exactly happened?"

Kennedy's mouth again curled into her signature devilishly sexy smirk. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Willow growled a bit. "Stop teasing. Is everyone okay?"

"Well… that TA may not be able to have sex ever again, but I don't care. As for what happened…"

"_Holy Shit!" Willow screamed from her desk, shooting up and stumbling into the aisle. Kennedy turned from where she was rearing to have another go at Riley's privates to see the redhead, eyes obsidian, crunch hard onto the floor and roll haphazardly down the stairs and land in a motionless heap at the bottom. Abandoning her previous plans, she began to run over to her, but a surprisingly firm hand rooted her in place via her shoulder. _

"_You're not going anywhere near her," Professor Walsh growled, agitated by the mayhem in her class. "Go and stand outside while I sort this out!"_

_cocking and eyebrow, Kennedy twirled around t face her. "You couldn't sort out a flea circus, __**Professor**__ Walsh. I have all the rights of any other human being to help my friend. I am perfectly capable of carrying her to the nurse's office and explaining what happened."_

"_You will do no such thing, young woman!"_

_Kennedy snorted. "Fine then. But I have 30 people in this room who are witness to me being assaulted by your TA."_

_Walsh gave her a calculated look. Her cold eyes pierced Kennedy's equally focused ones, but unlike all of her other students, this girl didn't buckle. Her eyes just twinkled brighter and her lips tugged into a half-smile. "Your choice, Maggie."_

_Kennedy felt the class behind her take in a collective breath as they stared it out. "Fine." Walsh gave up, defeated. She turned away and motioned for Riley to follow her into the small adjacent office at the back._

_Smirking in triumph, Kennedy strode over to Willow, drinking in the magic that was exuding from her body. And she picked her up, a tingle ran through her arms and she moaned a bit. This was how everything was supposed to feel. Not just the numb and the cold and the cheap high of nicotine. This was __**it**__._

_With Willow's limp form over her shoulder, Kennedy walked out amidst cheers from her fellow students, feeling like herself from three years ago._

"You're a real idiot, you know," Willow commented after Kennedy's story ended. "Walsh will be out for your blood."

The brunette shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't care. There are always other classes. And if I gets too bad- I'll just leave." She stated.

"Don't."

"Excuse me?" Kennedy asked, surprised. "And here was I thinking you wanted me out of here as soon as possible…"

"Shut up. I just think… I dunno. We need all the help we can get at the moment. With day-walking vampires and all… I have a feeling life will never be the same again."

Kennedy felt a guilty wriggle in her stomach. Willow looked sad, and the brunette was a sucker for sad. She reached out a hand and cupped Willow's cheek reassuringly. Desires re-surfaced and she found herself aching for a kiss. Though she felt the girl trembling under her touch, she liked this too much. Liked the exhilaration of control and touch, things that made her feel alive again. Slowly exhaling and inhaling, she breathed in Willow's scent, letting her eyelids flutter dangerously close to closed. Her body ached for sex, a problem of her own making- sex made Kennedy feel good. For a while, anyway. Afterwards, she felt satisfied but hollow. As she'd watch that other girl sleep soundly, with her lips twitching into a smile, she felt horrible: like a monster. A sheep in wolf's clothing. Sometimes it got too much to bear, and she'd go find Chris and cry into her shoulder for an hour.

Emotions annoyed Kennedy sometimes. She pushed them from her mind and concentrated on feeling. Expertly trailing a finger lightly over Willow's creamy cheek, she leaned in for the kill, breathing in her minty breath- like polos.

"Ah!" the curtain pulled open and a girl gave a quiet shout, pulling it back almost immediately. Kennedy hurriedly yanked herself off Willow and stood up, hoping she didn't look too guilty.

"Come back," She said, calming herself. The girl inched into the cubicle tentatively, and Kennedy took a good look at her. It was the girl from the day before, Kara? Lara? The one she had sworn to get?

"Um… h-hh-hi… was I, um, interrupting a-anything?" She stammered, letting her hair fall over her eyes in nervous habit. Kennedy noted the strong aura of magic that she had tried to hide around her, but to a seasoned professional, she was practically wearing a pointy hat and carrying a broomstick. Looking back at Willow, who had miraculously fallen asleep or fainted or something, Kennedy decided she could play around a little.

"That's a nice little cloaking spell, witch. How long did that take you?" she cockily asked, arms folded. Probing into her consciousness slightly, not enough to alert her, Kennedy pulled out two surface thoughts- one of a paper with 'Tara Maclay, A*' written on it, with a sense of pride, and another of a certain redhead with the rising sun at her back, sending rays of sunlight shimmering through her beautiful vibrant hair…

"Oh, I'm pissed now." Tara was thinking about Willow. The snarl of Kennedy's lips was enough to enlighten Tara with the fact that she had done something wrong. She backed away slightly, but suddenly it was as if her mind had been clamped by a cold hand that was trying to worm its fingers into her brain. Kennedy furiously probed deeper into her memories, pulling the conversation from this morning up involuntarily. She absorbed the whole thing and gave a grunt and annoyance.

"Tara Maclay," she stated, voice weighed. "I don't give a shit who you are. I don't care if you have magic and I don't care if you're really good at History. I don't even care…" she trailed off and smirked slightly, "that you're a lesbian."

"How d-do you k-kk-know th-that?" Tara asked, freaked at the crazy brunette whose eyes swirled maliciously. "I- I just came to s-see if W-W-Willow was okay… I'm sorry… I'll l-leave…"

"Oh no," Kennedy said, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her to face-to-face. "You're not going anywhere till you promise me something."

"Whu-What?"

"Promise me that you won't go near her again."

Tara's brow furrowed. "Why? It's n-not like I'm doing anything b-bb-bad, we're just acquaintances-"

She broke off with a muffled scream as Kennedy lunged at her and took her by the scruff of her neck, fangs bared and eyes flashing. "You won't go near her again. Say it."

Kennedy was a _vampire_.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Well, there it is, if you hadn't already guessed it. Read and review! Sorry for the late update!


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